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Yahoo Moves to Flat-Rate Web Hosting

Most small business owners understand that a Web site is a necessary tool to market and grow their business. But figuring out how much bandwidth, hard disk space and e-mail storage you need – or even why you need those things – can distract you from your primary task: running and growing a successful business. […]

Written By

Lauren Simonds

Feb 11, 2008

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Most small business owners understand that a Web site is a necessary tool to market and grow their business. But figuring out how much bandwidth, hard disk space and e-mail storage you need – or even why you need those things – can distract you from your primary task: running and growing a successful business.

That’s what Yahoo discovered through customer research, according to Guy Yalif, director of Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting. It’s also why the company eliminated the concern altogether by offering a new service called Yahoo Web Hosting — with unlimited disk space, data transfer and e-mail storage – for $11.95 a month.

Previously, the company’s $11.95 package, Yahoo Web Hosting Starter, offered 5 GB of disk space and 200 GB of monthly bandwidth.

“Small business owners face a number of obstacles to success, and we don’t think that the growth of their online presence should be one of them,” said Yalif. “Eliminating the restrictions lets our customers focus on what really matters most – generating leads, driving traffic to their site and running their business – not calculating the costs of megabytes”

Along with the new all-you-can-eat pricing, Yahoo Web Hosting also includes Web site design tools (geared toward people with little or no technical experience) to create professional-quality sites, a free domain name, 1,000 personalized e-mail accounts (i.e., employeename@yourbusiness.com), live 24/7 toll-free customer support and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

Other features include the following:

Tools that guide you through a step-by-step process to open your business online
Web site optimization for lead generation
Professional site design templates for specific kinds of small businesses, such as attorneys, home-repair services, accountants and spas
One-step e-mail setup and an online e-mail interface
A lead-capturing tool that automatically alerts you via e-mail when potential customers submit contact information or request service
Guidance on how to develop content for each page of the Web site

Sanjeev Aggarwal, the vice-president of small business IT infrastructure solutions at AMI Research said that Yahoo Web Hosting offers a lot of value for small companies.

“This is great for small business owners who need to focus on their core business. They typically don’t have the IT people or the time to worry about how much bandwidth and storage they’re using,” he said. “Yahoo Web Hosting also offers significant value with the marketing and site optimization features.”

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com

This article was first published on SmallBusinessComputing.com.